Category Archives: m.news

I’m about to delve into uncharted m.blog territory: sports. Wait! Don’t close the page! This a serious matter: Alex Rodriguez has been caught using performance enhancing drugs again and things aren’t looking good for his legacy.

Now, there’s something you might not know about me and I’m going to drop a major sack of WOAH on you: I was a pretty big Yankees fan growing up. I’m not so into baseball anymore, but in middle school and high school and early college I was a die-hard Yankee fan. I was such a big fan that I wrote to my favorite Yankees – Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Alex Rodriguez – asking, begging, pleading, cajoling for one measly autograph. Anything would do!

Well, I got one response: a signed 8×11 picture of Alex Rodriguez, standing on the top steps of the Yankee Stadium dugout, smiling from underneath his Yankee cap. I think opening that letter rivaled the excitement I felt when I opened the acceptance letter from my college of choice.

I was over the moon. I even licked my finger and smudged the tiniest corner of the “Z” to make sure that it was real ink. I hadn’t expected a response and didn’t receive one from the other players. I had written something like “Mr. Rodriguez I think you’re really awesome! I know that the media and some of the fans get on you, but don’t forget you’re great…” I was definitely hoping that this flattery would help in getting me an autograph, but I also felt bad because a lot of people were just being haters.

There’s only one problem: Alex Rodriguez IS a tool and he has done nothing but reinforce this commonly held belief. Here are his most embarrassing moments as I see them:

Falling in love with Madonna, who in turn dumped him for a 21-year-old:

It’s a shame, because I had visions of pulling that picture out in 20 years and showing it to my awestruck son, who would look up at me (and my completely handsome and still youthful face, natch!) and ask, “THE Alex Rodriguez?” But really, now he’s probably just going to say, “And…?”

Shea Allen, a reporter for the ABC affiliate in Huntsville, AL has been all over the national news recently. Not because of her hard-hitting news coverage, but because she was “allegedly” fired for her personal blog, Shea Allen Says… Actually one post in particular where Shea confesses that she’s frightened of old people and refuses to do stories involving them, her best sources have a secret crush on her, and she’s gone without a bra during a live report – and no one noticed.

I realize that Shea is a media personality and therefore her actions may very well have more drastic consequences, but I can’t help but think how this is the world in which we live. Chronicling your life on social media is the “it” thing nowadays. In fact, in its “State of the Net” report last year, Consumer Reports found that 52% of social network users post risky information online.

It may be a graphic birth story – pictures included (this is becoming more frequent in my life because my friends and I are of childbearing age), medical oddities (I don’t need daily updates on the progress of your toe fungus), gushy love confessions (you are in love and wish we all were lucky enough to find an amazing partner in life, we get it), bitter/angry rants about people who “know who they are” (do they? And who really cares, I am sure they are lame anyways) or pity parties (if you are really a fat ugly loser, you aren’t going to tell the world) we are certainly sharing more than ever – including a few not-so-innocent things no one really needs or wants to know.

I am not totally innocent in this epidemic but I fear social media is making us less social because we are too busy updating our status, tagging our friends and filtering our photos to actually enjoy the memories we are making. I welcome any thoughts on how to kick (or at least curb) the addiction!

With only a month of summer left, I am reminded (with a deep sense of impending doom) that most of mm/c’s fabulous interns are undoubtedly gearing up to make the trek back to school come mid-August, and boy will they be missed! It got me thinking – It’s no secret that with student debt soaring to nauseating heights, the plight of the poor, unpaid intern has gained notoriety in the news recently. Personally, I cherished my first PR internship. It gave me remarkable insight into the industry — it’s many faces, inside jokes and frustrations — not to mention a free, hands-on education. So I was thrilled to see a surge of new publications, movies and online outlets portraying internships not only as nurturing, but damn sexy as well.

Intern mag has just launched Issue Zero – created by interns for interns, the matte mag has a seductive and engaging quality with a focus on “meet the talent” instead of “get thee to the gulags.” I have already ordered a copy on Kickstarter – and suggest you do the same, or grab a copy of Issue One when it hits the shelves of your local Urban Outfitters (really nailed their demographic on that one). This isn’t the first of it’s kind either – The Internship Magazine is a digital men’s lifestyle mag that has been around for the better part of 2013. Dappled with images of gorgeous male modelesque interns, it celebrates the creative industries up-and-comers with a “watch-out-world” vibe.

Hollywood is catching on as well – Vince Vaugh and Owen Wilson’s “The Internship” which hit theaters in June, follows the two middle-aged chuckle-heads through their internship at the benevolent cult-like headquarters of Google. The movie portrays today’s college grads (and accurately so) as a brilliant battalion of young, attractive, cut throat 20’s something’s who have nothing to lose and everything to gain (out with the old and in with the new!).

I’ll be the first to admit that not all internships are romantic adventures into uncharted waters; internships are what you make of them, and that’s where the sexy part comes in – it’s all you baby, so work it! In truth, it will more often be like this, and will most likely never be like this. Regardless, the camaraderie that stems from the experience and the “it’s not what you know but who you know” networking that can come from them is not to be missed. I wouldn’t trade my coffee-totting, spell-checking, cold-calling, errand-running internship experience for the world. Would you?

The media was all a flutter with several recent shark sightings along the coast of Cape Cod. I don’t have any upcoming plans to visit the Cape (but invites are welcome…), and if I do, I would likely only go into the water up to my knees, but this still freaks me out. I can barely doggy-paddle, let alone handle the idea of escaping a great white shark. Just hearing the theme song of “Jaws” makes me cringe. If you assume, like me, that most people would react the same way – you would be wrong.

“Good Morning America” told the story of a guy on Nantucket who “wrestles sharks” as a hobby. A hobby? Knitting is a hobby. Gardening is a hobby. Wrestling sharks is just asking for it.

He’s caught over 100 sharks in the last eight months by charging the waves, grabbing the shark’s tail and pulling the poor guy to shore. And while most fishermen throw back the small ones, he always lets the sharks go, likely to swim away with his or her tail down in shame.

The best part? He got a slow clap from spectators as he walked away. Take a look at the clip to see this brave guy’s casual fun activity – anyone up for a new hobby? I think I’ll stay pool side, myself.

Alright, I’ll be the one to stick my neck out here and completely embarrass myself by admitting that I’ve already checked for a phone app to alert me immediately when the Royal Baby arrives. (Sadly, there isn’t one.)

I can’t help myself. I’m a complete Anglophile, hopeless royal romantic, and baby fanatic — a combination that will torment my husband for the days leading up to and immediately following this royal birth.

With the little heir’s arrival expected any day, I’ve gathered the deets on what to expect once “His or Her Royal Highness the Prince or Princess of Cambridge” decides to join us in the world.

Where will the baby be born?Catherine is expected to give birth in the private Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, central London – the same place where both Prince William and Prince Harry were born. Media are already camped out with cameras, waiting for the first sign of activity.

Will Prince William be therefor the birth?Prince William is based at RAF Valley on Anglesey in North Wales but when Catherine goes into labor, it is expected that he will be flown by helicopter to Kensington Palace in order to be at his wife’s side as soon as possible.

Who will be the first to know about the birth?Once the royal baby is born, Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the Governors General of each of the Commonwealth nations will be informed, along with the rest of the royal and Middleton families. You know, that completely normal routine where your siblings and the political head of your country find out at the same moment that you’ve given birth.

Most importantly – when will we find out!?
After the baby is born, an official notice confirming the newborn’s gender, weight and the time of its birth will be signed by Catherine’s doctors.

A palace official will bring this document out of the hospital and hand it to a messenger, who will take it to Buckingham Palace, under police guard. At the palace the notice will be put into a gilt frame, which will be positioned on an easel – the same one that was used to announce the birth of Prince William – and placed in the palace forecourt.

This is the first time the world will know the gender of the baby. However, it could take anywhere up to 10 days before the new arrival’s name is announced.

Whether the Duchess of Cambridge is too posh to push will remain to be seen, but if her poise so far during this pregnancy is any indication, she’ll make it look effortless and adorable no matter how hard she’s working.

“Man Swallowed by Hippo.” When I saw this headline, I thought, either this is from The Onion or there’s going to be some sort of belated April Fool’s joke at the bottom of the article, making me feel like an idiot for reading the whole thing.

But no, this legitimately happened, and the man lived to tell the tale. Sure, he wasn’t actually swallowed whole in some sort of Pinocchio and the whale scenario, but the guy was definitely almost digested. The “huge tusks and slicing incisors” also didn’t make things easier for his escape – nor did the sliminess and the “sulfurous smell, like rotten eggs” of the hippo’s belly make it any more pleasant.

It made me think about the sweet little wooden hippo that sits on my coffee table – a wedding present brought back from Africa by a friend. That thing is so cute, but apparently misleads me into thinking hippos are harmless. What next – do pandas and puppies have violent, people-eating tendencies too? Needless to say, this only further confirms that I am not a safari-vacation kind of girl… I’ll stick to the beach where the biggest threat is a rogue seagull.

Gay rights and dogs. Two things I’m a big fan of. So I was delighted at how many pooches turned out to rally for gay marriage rights during last week’s Supreme Court DOMA Hearings. From Washington D.C. to San Francisco, protesters from both sides continue to gather daily to make their voice (or bark!) heard. Some of the best dogs-for-equality photos (IMHO) from last week, for your viewing pleasure: